Heather Abbot Lost Part of Her Leg in the Boston Marathon Bombings. This Year, She’ll be Back—And Running the Last Half Mile of the Race

This year, Heather Abbott will celebrate Patriot’s Day the same way she has for years: The Newport, Rhode Island, resident will travel to Boston with the same group of friends she always has, cheer on the Red Sox, and then go to the Forum, a restaurant located near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, to watch runners complete the race. But there will be one key difference this year: On Monday, Heather will run the last half mile of the marathon—in spite of the fact that she lost part of her left leg during the bombings last April.

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April 15, 2013 Heather had been about to walk into the Forum when she heard the first bomb go off.

“I turned in the direction of it and saw smoke and people kind of frantic,” says Heather. “Just seconds later, the second bomb exploded right next to me.” Since it was a spring day, the restaurant had its doors open—and the force of the bomb catapulted Heather inside the restaurant.

“When I came to on the ground, I realized my foot felt like it was on fire,” she says. “I was in a lot of pain, and people were running away in the direction of the street through the back entrance of the restaurant.”

When Heather tried to get up, she couldn’t—so she yelled for help. Erin Chatham, wife of former Patriots linebacker Matt Chatham, heard Heather’s pleas and got her husband to carry Heather out of the restaurant, where she was taken to the hospital.

The Long Road to Recovery Heather’s left foot was badly injured—so after meeting with some amputees, she decided to remove that leg below the knee. A month after being admitted to Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Heather was finally allowed to return home and sleep in her own bed—although there were some difficult aspects of coming back.

“Before I left for Marathon Monday, I had a trip to Virginia Beach planned in May with my girlfriends,” she says. “I had ordered some new summer shoes and beach dresses, and they had all arrived while I was in the hospital. When I came home, someone had brought them in and they were all in my bedroom. I opened them, and I just cried. I thought, ‘I’m never going to be able to wear them.’”

One of the things that kept Heather going in those first few weeks back was the promise that she would get her prosthetic leg soon—and six or seven weeks after she left the hospital, she was finally fitted for one.

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“I was so excited because this was going to be my first step toward getting my independence back and walking,” says Heather, whose mother moved into her apartment in the weeks following her hospital stay. “Seeing all those amputees walking around, they look like it’s fine and it’s not a big deal, so that’s what I was expecting.”

But when Heather tried walking on her prosthetic for the first time, it was a huge disappointment. “It was so painful,” she says. “I was only six weeks out of surgery, so the incision was still new.” The leg was much bigger and bulkier than Heather had anticipated because she was still swollen from the surgery. “I stood up and thought, ‘This is what I’m going to walk on? It’s like a stilt! How am I going to do this? It feels nothing like my leg.’”

Eventually, Heather’s incision healed, her swelling went down, and she got a new prosthetic (she actually has four now—one with a flat foot that she wears most of the time, one that lets her wear four-inch heels, one waterproof prosthetic she can wear in the shower or while paddle boarding, and one blade she uses for running). As Heather practiced walking on the prosthetic more and more, it became more natural.

“It’s kind of sad,” says Heather. “Initially, it was such a shock because the last thing I remembered was walking on two legs—and I don’t think I remember anymore. This is what I’m getting used to now—which is good because I have to—but it’s also kind of sad.”

“I Didn’t Want My Life to Have to Change” One of Heather’s main priorities throughout her recovery has been maintaining her independence. “I wanted to be able to go grocery shopping, carry my own bags, travel by myself, go running, go paddle boarding,” she says. “I didn’t want my life to have to change, and in a lot of respects it didn’t. I’m able to do all of those things. It’s not the same—but I can do it.”

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Heather even used her waterproof leg and went stand-up paddle boarding once last summer (she plans to do it more regularly this year and even wants to learn to do it without the help of her friends). She also started running in October and has taken a couple of kickboxing classes.

Heather says the fact that she’s single may have helped speed her recovery.

“When I’d go to other events with some of the other amputees, somebody’s husband would be carrying their bags,” she says. “If someone was helping me, I wouldn’t have had to push myself as much. Although that’s been very frustrating at times, it’s probably helped speed things along.”

Heather also says that the support—both financial and emotional—she’s received from others has given her the ultimate motivation to get better.

“I’m happy to show off my high-heel prosthetic and say, ‘Donations helped me get his leg—thank you because I needed it for my own mental health and here I am walking on it,’” she says. “When you have that many people focused on your recovery, you want to do well.”

One Year After Tragedy Now, Heather serves as a peer counselor and meets with women who have been recently lost a limb or are considering getting a leg amputated.

“When I was in the hospital, other amputees came to visit me, and it made me feel like—when I saw them functioning and walking like normal people—it gave me hope that I was going to be OK,” she says. “I think it’s great to be able to walk into their hospital rooms and be this example to them.”

Heather also keeps in touch with her rescuers, Erin and Matt Chatham, talking to them regularly. In fact, it was Erin who convinced Heather to run the last half mile of the marathon (Erin’s running the entire 26.2 miles—her first marathon—to raise money for the Joe Andruzzi Foundation). “She said she felt inspired by me,” says Heather.

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It’s something that Heather hears often—although she can’t quite wrap her head around it.

“They say it, and I feel like I don’t really know what they mean,” she says. “But when I watched Amy Purdy [a double amputee on Dancing with the Stars] dance for the first time, I was like, ‘This is what they mean.’ That’s how I felt—it gives you hope.”

Heather is one of 15 people featured in Universal Sports Network’s “Run as One” campaign, a series of inspiring online vignettes that tell the personal stories of those directly affected by the tragic events of the 2013 Boston bombings. Universal Sports Network will provide exclusive coverage of the 2014 Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21.

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